Never had this happen before.......

[Hedgehog]

About a year ago I got a Bikini Top for the CJ5 . A common enough thing. Today (spooky but this sort of thing seems to happen a lot) the CJ5 and I were buzzing along down I-10 at 70+ mph. I was looking at a truck that had his load tied down with a ratchet strap. This got me to thinking about strap material and the way the Arizona sun rots the fabric. The thought cam to me that my Bikini Top was held fairly tight, but no problems. ....... Then BOOOMMM POP! The Bikini Top straps tear loose and the top began flopping around like a broken sail. So, I reached up, grabbed the flipping flopping mess and pulled it down into the front seat area. Which worked well, except for the fact that it sucked up hard against the windshield. I believe I was fairly calm pealing it off enough to see. Remember all this was done at 70+ mph. I'm sure it impressed all the packed I-10 vacation drivers round me. At least one thing is nice about getting older, true panic is further away that it used to be.

Have you had a Bikini top pop like this? The top itself is in great condition, would it be appropriate to have the straps replaced?

 

[GARGOYLEJEEPER]

Been there done that, on my `48 CJ2a due to window bounce, 1 year old Best Top. Ripped the straps on a country road doing 55, damn near wrecked it. Took it for my mom to sew, and haven`t seen it since (10 years), should have sent it to my cousin (she works for Britannia Sportswear - & has a big sew machine)

 

[rr41mag]

I had the front come out of the rail. I reinstalled it and before I flipped it back over the rook I put 4 screws in it.

 

[ThisGuyUKnow]

Mine did something similar. I was going 75 and the wind pulled it out of the windshield channel in front. Wasn't fun.

 

[Torxhead]

How about having the hood come open on the freeway! I have had the top rail begin to pull out, so I stopped and removed the top. Its been a long time since my Jeep has seen 70 mph!

 

[Stodg73]

70, what is that?

 

[hole]

Hedgehog, I would think any place that can sew canvas could repair it no sweat.Years ago I had a place that did store front canopies sew a tear on a canvas top for my old Deuce and a Half with great success.

 

[hondo]

i have had it come out of the front windshield channel and have been worried about the straps breaking (came with the jeep and don't have a clue how old it is guessing about 10 years) the straps don't look very good.

 

[Hedgehog]

I'm not the type to do this sort of thing, but poor strap material seems like a lawsuit just waiting to happen. In a year my straps were simply sun rotted to the point where thy lost all their structural integrity. Is there another material that will work better for straps that are almost constantly exposed to the sun or is there a sun blocking product that can be applied to the existing straps.

The front rail is in good shape on my CJ, it holds the top very securely the exposed straps are the weak point for me.